Archives for February 2018

I remember when I first decided to open my own daycare business. At first… everything was basically free of any daycare challenges. I was so excited and ready to roll. My husband and I, plus helpful friends and family members, spent a lot of time painting, decorating and transferring our basement into a mini-daycare center. Everything looked beautiful, fresh and welcoming.

I couldn’t believe that all the hours of dreaming and planning were finally becoming my reality. I had wonderful families enrolled in my daycare. I had a fun licensor to work with and my food program lady was amazing. I seriously thought I hit the jackpot! I thought life couldn’t get any better.

Until…

Through a series of unfortunate events, I ended up losing half of my daycare families unexpectedly. Added to that, my licensor was fired out of the blue. Now I had to figure things out on my own.

I was devastated. Can you say “Daycare challenges galore?”

When I said “Yes” to starting my own daycare business, I did not think about those kind of things. Perhaps you didn’t either. I had no idea that running your own daycare business would be so stressful and full of unwelcome surprises. (Yes, I was naive.)

I did not have a ‘Plan B’ because I thought having ‘Plan A’ was all I needed.

I felt stuck, alone, confused, and maybe a little (or a lot) afraid. Can you relate?

But then, I remembered:

– my passion to teach and make a difference
– all the beautiful faces of little children that I had a privilege to love and invest in
– all the giggles and laughs that we shared every single day

And also, I remembered:

– mistakes that I made and what I learned from them
– how far I had come and how much more professional I was becoming
– how I learned to run my business, and not let other people run it
– how much I invested both financially and emotionally into this business

Finally…

I remembered the brave choice I made to start my own in-home daycare.

I was not willing to give up just because of these huge daycare challenges!

Being a daycare provider and a business owner is a lot like being a first-time parent. It is a learning experience. You don’t know what you are doing right away, but you are tying to do your best. You learn as you go. You fail. You improve. You become more confident. You survive craziness.

Sure, there are days when you want to walk away and forget it all. Trust me, I was there way too many times. But this didn’t make me a bad daycare provider, and it doesn’t make you a bad daycare provider either.

It makes us NORMAL.

I don’t know what daycare challenges you are facing today. Whatever they may be, please believe me when I say it does get easier. It really does. No matter how hopeless it looks.

Take a deep breath…

Okay. Think about what you can do today – a small little step that you can take today to get you where you want to be tomorrow, a week from today, a year from today.

Now, be brave and do it! Push through your fears. Make a plan. If your Plan A doesn’t work out, then make a Plan B and if that doesn’t work out make a Plan C.

Just do it. I did.

I hope my story will inspire you to be brave along with me. If I could do it, you can do it.

Let’s be brave together.

I am cheering for you!

xoxo,
Sylvie

PS. And just in case you are wondering, things did turn around for me. Eventually, I got a new licensor. I enrolled new families. And I took a much needed vacation.